NEWSFLASH NEWSFLASH INDY 4 INDY 4

Lucas has finally said Ok to a script and they'll start filming in 2007, releasing Indy 4 in May of 2008.

Da Worst

Oh my Christ, Domino was a complete mess. Finally got around to seeing it, and it had to be the worst movie I've seen in quite some time. I wanted it to be great. Cool. Kick-ass. It wasn't. I blame the script, although I'm hoping for Richard "Donnie Darko" Kelly's sake that it was ripped apart prior to production - because it stunk.

I liked the idea of the movie, the actors did the best they could with the trash they were given, and some of the action scenes were ok - I think. With Tony Scott's "directing" of late, you simply can not tell what the hell is going on. All of his scenes are a mess of useless flashes and jumpcuts. He's never been a great director but at least with his past successes, stuff like Top Gun and Days of Thunder, you could see that he knew how to put scenes/sequences together.

I think with True Romance he started to decline, depending too much on visual gimmicks. Enemy Of the State was a good effort, at least he had some actual direction going on, however, he threw all that out the window with Man On Fire and this tragedy on film - Domino. Tony - just make a movie that we can see and enjoy without having a fucking seizure.

I did see another God-awful movie - A Sound Of Thunder, starring Eddie Burns. Holy shit was this bad. Decent concept, but what an atrocious execution. The F/X in this steaming pile of llama shit made the effects in Space Pirates seem cutting edge. How could they have edited this together, added the effects, and said - Yup! It's awesome!! Wow. Bad.

These pieces of crap got me thinking though, of bad movies that you can actually enjoy that they're so bad. Like Arnie's Commando. Loved that! He throws the pipe into the baddie at the end and says "Let off some steam, Bennett." Classic. John Matrix rocks.

Two questions - what are some of the worst movies you've seen lately, and what movie (or movies) are really really bad but you still love them?

X-Mas

Merry Christmas!!!!!

It's funny. This time last year I was saying the same thing on this blog, and that one goal was to get writing off the ground finally and leave my day-job-pays-the-bills-thing behind and get my writing career going full-time.

Haven't quite done that yet. Things are still on the move, had some action this year on scripts and stuff, and I do believe I'm closer, but nothing has officially sold and my pilot isn't in production or anything, so while I'm closer, I'm not all that close. I'm hoping to kick some serious ass in 2007 though. And I hope you guys/gals do the same!!

Happy holidays.

King Of California

Well, 2007 is looking to be quite a year. i'll do a forecast soon of at least the shit that interests me. Anyway, following Trade, here's another film that looks like a good one, King Of California, starring Michael Douglas. Loved him in the awesome Wonder Boys. I like how he doesn't stick to the glossy stuff, he jumps in and out of indies every now and then like Bruce Willis. Check out the trailer.

Trade

So far, this is my #1 film to see in 2007, hands down. Amazing trailer, best since Little Children. But this is also an important film, a must-see. Check out the trailer. Amazing stuff.

Holla!

Sorry, I had to.

Some updates - New plan for Cricket Hill - We've decided to turn the pilot back into a 1 hour pilot, which I'm totally ok with. The first several drafts I made were 1 hour, so it'll be easy to re-expand it. The main reason is that it's more of a comedy/drama in its tone, not really a sitcom-ish line-line-punchline, line-line punchline type of story. So I'll be working on that, we've got a couple pretty big TV producers that we're taking it to soon.

Still plugging away on The Stand-In. My Manager is super-excited about this, he's already pitched the idea to a few of his peeps in H-Wood and they've all said it's something they'd like to see. The plan is to have that script completed next.

Haven't gotten to the movies lately, but if I did go I would NOT see Deja Vu (it just doesn't do anything for me, but I'll catch it on HBO) or The Nativity Story (doesn't look at all interesting). But I would like to see We Are Marshall. It just looks so damn inspiring and all, yeah, it's sure to make me weep like an open sore. I just gotta see it.

Saw Nacho Libre on DVD, enjoyed it, didn't blow me away. also saw The King which was an interesting movie, it was well done, but one you'd never have to watch again.

Music - I love that Fray song, How To Save A Life. Oh that's a good one. Broke out an old mix tape and caught some of my 90s goodies - James, Ride, Ocean Blue, REM, New Order, Depeche Mode, great stuff.

TV - We've been watching My Boys, a new sitcom on TBS. It's actually a very funny show, well written, and the cast is great. Nip/Tuck blows hard this year. Not into Daybreak at all. Still loving The Office, and my wife and I are hooked on Heroes, Friday Night Lights, 30 Rock, Studio 60, and Dexter. Oh, and Dirty Jobs!

Best Pix? Well, so far it's been United 93 at most of those critics awards, with Eastwood's Letters From Iwo Jima taking some. It looks like it'll go down like this for the Best Pic race:

United 93 (my fave of '06)
Letters From Iwo Jima
The Departed
Dreamgirls

As for #5, it'll likely be Little Miss Sunshine, Babel, or Pursuit Of Happyness.

Script Excerpt - Temp'd

The following excerpt is the beginning 3.5 pages of Temp'd. In a nutshell, it's about 3 buddies who gets jobs as temps in order to rob an escort service located in the same building. No, that is not an official logline. Also, sorry for the format, I know some of you post excerpts and they look all page-like, but I ain't be knowing how to do that. Anyways, here it is......

TITLE CARD ON BLACK: “SEND LAWYERS, GUNS AND MONEY....THE SHIT HAS HIT THE FAN...” WARREN ZEVON

FADE IN:
INT. CAR - DAY
Three men in their early 30s sit in the car. In the back seat is MORRIS. In the front are DAK (driving) and ED.They are stopped, waiting for a bunch of geese to cross the road.

MORRIS

This is bullshit.

DAK

Lotta damn ducks here.

ED

They’re geese, dude.

DAK

Ducks, geese, what do you fucking care?

ED

Just drive around.

DAK

They’re all over the road, I can’t.

MORRIS

Ed, ain’t they pissing you off?

ED

I like geese. Look at them. Just minding their own fucking business. They don’t give two shits about us.

MORRIS

Well, I say we run them down.

ED

No way. Don’t you wish we could be like that? Like, people in general I mean. Just kinda doing our own thing, not getting in everybody’s face. Just living life, man.

DAK

You’re nuts.

MORRIS

I don’t wanna be like no damn bird.

ED

I didn’t say I wanted to be a fucking bird, Morris. It’s a fucking metaphor.

DAK

Since when are you all thoughtful?

ED

What crawled up your ass and made you Mr. Bitter?

DAK

I’m not Mr. Bitter.

ED

Sure you are. Dak Bitter. That’s your new name.

DAK

I don’t want a new name.

MORRIS

Up your ass with your metaphors. Let’s kill the birds.

DAK

I am not driving over them. This is my car. I just washed it. I even waxed it.

MORRIS

Then we should have a party because you cleaned your car.

DAK

Look!

They look, there’s just one left.

DAK

Go, bird!

ED

Follow your bird-friends! Go on!

MORRIS

Move, you fucking bird!

The fucking bird stands there.

DAK

What an asshole. Look at him.

MORRIS

How about now, Ed? Still wanna be like a bird?

Ed looks out at the road. The bird seems to stare directly at him.

ED

Fine.

Ed steps out of the car and approaches the bird.

BIRD

AACCK! AACCK! AACCK!

Ed draws a gun, aims and BAM!

TITLE CARD ON BLACK: 3 Weeks Ago
INT. ELEVATOR - DAY
Standing in the elevator with Ed is JULIA (early 20s). NEIL (late 20s) runs in as the door is closing.

NEIL

Three, please.

ED

We’re all going to three. We’ve been going to three all week.

NEIL

Good morning to you, too, sunshine.

(to Julia)

What’s your name again?

JULIA

Julia.

NEIL

I’m Neil.

Julia nods politely.

NEIL

Oh. Gonna be like that, are you? Your shit don’t stink? I bet you a twenty it stinks. I bet you twenty more that it stinks like shit.

Silence as the elevator travels. Neil farts.

NEIL
Whoa, speak of the devil. That was me. Don’t worry about it everybody.

They’re all disgusted.

INT. HALLWAY - DAY
The elevator door opens. They get off quickly, waving away the odor.
MR. STONE (late 30s) approaches.

MR. STONE

TGIF!

They stare at him blankly

A Piss Poor Logline

I saw this logline on the Movie-bytes website, and it made me wish explosive diarrhea on myself. Here it is, for a script called Operation Longbow, Before 9-11:

"Aborted attempted assassination of a terrorist, in the Sahara by the use of a special sniper rifle called the Longbow. However, most of the story and subtext deals with serial murders in New Orleans during the height of Mardi Gras."

And my reply is - What? C'mon dude. First of all, your title is insanely dumb. 2nd, this logline is complete shit. If you (the writer of this crap) happens across my blog, I hope you're not too offended. I don't mean to make you feel like an asshole, but have you read the logline? It's terrible. All it sounds like to me is a really stupid, shall I say retarded, idea.

I'd hate to read the synopsis, probably make me want to beat Tom Crymes with a shovel.

My point: As most of you (except for Mr. Longbow) are aware, your logline is your first attack on a producer. If it comes across as dopey-sounding as this, do you think they'd really want to read the script? Hello, no. And if they do, well, then you deserve each other.

These Darn Kids of Today

What the hell do they like? I've been thinking over the past few days, what movies/tv shows/music will stay with them?

Back when I was a kid, there was a ton of stuff that always amazed us, inspired us. Like the original Star Wars Trilogy. Amazing stuff. I can still watch them now and wax nostalgic. (Don't get me started on the prequels again..............). But these were movies that changed everything. And stuff like Jaws, Close Encounters, Gallipoli, Manhattan, Indiana Jones.

What will the kids of today remember in 10, 20 years? Lord Of the Rings? Maybe, but it's not really a movie/series you can just toss in for a good time, and I think most of the fans from those epics were geeks my age and older anyway.

"Remember that time when we were playing with our Yu-Gi-Oh cards?"
"Oh, man, how 'bout that time when we were watching the Wiggles and they say about potatoes?"
"Guess what I made with Floam?!"

I just can't see it.

TV always had something cool on. From Dungeons & Dragons on Saturday mornings, to Star Blazers, Thunderbirds 2086 (not the marionettes/puppet things) and of course, the original Muppets.

Music - I listened to a lot of stuff growing up, I even went through a Quiet Riot phase, and my first favorite band was Asia. Thankfully I got some sense and moved on to stuff like U2, REM, 10000 Maniacs, Radiohead, Youth Group, etc (although I'll still give Asia a blast when it comes on the radio).

But what will this generation listen to as "Classics?" London Bridge? Milkshake? My Humps? God, I hope not.

Strike back below with some of your oldies/favorites from "back in the day." Also, what will be remembered from now in 10 or 20 years?

The End Must Be Near

While I was in my office this morning, doing some paperwork (i.e. taking a dump, pinching a loaf, dropping a deuce, whatever the kids are calling it nowadays) I came up with some evidence that the end of the world may be approaching. Or, at least a list of crap that gives me agita. Evidence:

1. Holiday Shoppers Have Been and Always Will Be Douchebags: This is mainly in America, and to be more specific, Wal-Mart, but my God how we are asswipes. Just watching the video footage of all of us dumb cattle lined up in front of the stores at 4am, waiting for the doors to open and then BAM! GO! GO! GO! Beating the tar out of each other for a Tickle Me Elmo, a Wii, or a Baby-Vomits-A-Lot, whatever the hot toys are.

2. Speaking of Video Games: What is with these new systems? Why in the hell do I have to stand up to play a god damn video game? Can't I just sit on my ass anymore? Isn't the point of videogames so we can chill out while playing videogame tennis? Why would I want to actually stand there and pretend I'm hitting the ball with my wand or whetever they call it. If I wanted that experience, I'd GO PLAY TENNIS.

3. Tara Reid

4. Straight-To-DVD sequels: I've posted about this before so I won't rant much here, but the funny thing is they make sequels to ANYTHING now. There's actually a Behind Enemy Lines 2 now available on DVD. Awful.

5. Our Prez. Weren't we after Osama? Not anymore? Oh, he's hiding? Still? I thought we had some type of trained soldiers/high tech missles that could take care of that problem. Oh, hell let him go, let's dump another 10 Billion into Iraq/losing more troops.

6. Alan Cumming's personality: I don't know the guy, but to me he just seems like a real bonafide asshole.

7. Michael Richards: Yeah, he's done.

8. Screenwriters (non-professionals) Continue To Get the Shaft: Dear Assholes who want to rip off us already poor screenwriter wannabes - We hate you and hope you drown in a bucket of your own diarrhea. We're already struggling and have enough to stress out about. I'm talking about demonfuckers like the Screenplay Agency, and they're not the only ones, who are out there ready to feast on our wallets.

9. Neve Campbell says UK writers are better than American writers: She said, "The writers are more talented here (UK). People don't just pick up a pen and say, 'I'm going to write a screenplay', which happens all the time in LA. They have some background in literature before they decide to come up with a story." Oh yeah?! You wanna fight, beeyotch?! I bet some UK "writer" would have never thought up "Failure to Launch!" Or "Son Of The Mask." Or "Meatballs 4!" Or "Behind Enemy Lines 2!" In your face, Neve, as in Neva ever!

10: Britney: We feel your pain, Mr. K-Fed was a tool, but we kinda told you that from the start. But we're glad you got smart. Or, whatever. But please, if you wish to continue to have us on your side, please, please, please, when wearing a very short skirt, it may be wise to wear undergarments, and stay away from Paris "Cokefiend" Hilton.

Just a fun list of shit that bothered me lately, so maybe the world isn't ending yet. Feel free to add to the list.

Temp'd!

Got a new script that I'm blasting my way through. It's the fastest I've written something in years. Yeah, I'm talking about another new script, but it's actually a combination/hybrid of 2 old scripts and forged with a new plot.

It's called Temp'd (like Punk'd). The 2 scripts this was born from are:

1. Temp'd. This was a short script I meant to shoot a few years ago but never got around to it, basically a day in the life of a group of office temps. I was going to make it into a feature script keeping this premise but feared comparisons to Office Space & The Office (USA/UK) so I abandoned that idea.
2. Wait A Minute - This was a script from about 4 years ago, a crime comedy about 4 loser buddies who start working for the mob and get in all sort of trouble/wackiness. I even started to shoot it on DV in 2003 but we never completed the project, but we did make an extended trailer out of it.

I bascially took 3 of the characters from Wait A Minute and stuck them in the temps/office setting and came up with a new plot - 3 Friends get jobs as temps in a high-rise office so they can break into a high-class escort service, located on the floor above their office, on its busiest, most lucrative day of the year.

I'm having a good time with it. The 1st night, I wrote 18 pages, the next night I took it through page 30, and tonight I pushed it past 40, so I'm just rolling along with it, and since I'm 1000% into this over anything else right now, I must continue to roll with it.

High-Five!

Borat - My Review:

Offensive.
Disgusting.
Hilarious.

Yeah, I'm sure portions were set-up (but counting the number of lawsuits, maybe not that many). Even still, I knew going in it was not a REAL documentary, so although some of it was staged, it was all still funny to me.

Still, the best part of it for me, or maybe the saddest, was the reactions of our fellow Americans which showed their true colors.

Overall, a really funny movie, as well as a sad commentary of our US and A.

By the way, I like Jack Black and all, but his Tenacious D flick looks really dumb and not funny AT ALL. I plan to never see it.

Cranberry Sauced!

Well, it's turkey day. Not a huge turkey fan, but I like the tradition. My two favorite things about T-Day are the stuffing and cranberry sauce. I'm pretty much the only one at the table who eats the cranberry sauce, and that's fine by me. But I don't eat the lumpy shit. It's gotta be the jellied kind, and it must be shaped like the can.

Be safe.

Robert Altman RIP

Well, we lost a good director yesterday. Robert Altman was never one of my faves, actually I think many of him films were way overrated, but the guy obviously had a ton of talent, was a huge influence on many of today's up & coming directors, and he'll be missed.

The Stand-In

This is my latest script and the one my manager is fully behind. I'm through the 1st act and swimming nicely into Act Dos. It's very mainstream, high concept stuff. I'll post some excerpts soon.

It's about a former high school loser who hires a male supermodel to attend his high school reunion posing as the former loser. That's only the jumping off point, the reunion stuff ends by the end of Act 1.

Not groundbreaking stuff, but it's a fun concept. I wrote the beginning 10 pages about 6 years ago actually and just let it sit there. Then a few months back I was pitching some completed scripts & works in progress to my new manager. As he shot them down one by one (he's Mr. Mainstream-High-Concept, which is cool, but I've got more of an independent film mindset/fuck-the-3-act-structure way of thinking typically) I then pitched him this and he loved it. Easy to pitch, and if you're a Studio Exec you can "see" the movie, that was his point, and it's true. I am rather sick of working my useless 9-5, so I'll gladly get this puppy on its feet.

As for other stuff, we're waiting on feedback from sending out Food Fight (feature script). It's been in some pretty important hands over the last month, from agencies to prod. companies, so we'll see how that goes down.

Cricket Hill is awaiting word from our director. He's been extremely busy of late (just finished re-shoots for his next film (The Chaos Theory, starring Ryan Reynolds) and is in the middle of directing an episode of The Nine).

That's all I got for now! Gotta get back to Act 2!

C'MON PEOPLE

Ever since I started bloggin about 1 year ago, I noticed something about a handful of my fellow bloggers.

Well, some of you....have QUIT. What the fuck, man? How long do you think this takes?

It's strange, I mean, coming into this, you had to know it might not be EASY to sell a screenplay. It's usually a long damn road. And a road that sucks ass most of the time. Filled with MANY disappointments and dickheaded producers.

But don't give up! Christ!

I've seen it - they'll write one script, maybe 2, and try to get some action on it. And some do, but when it ends up not panning out, they pack it in. Oh, well, gave that a shot, let's go work at Target.

People - this is a hard career. I've been at it full-time (other than the day job) for a good 7-8 years now. And I still have the day job. Sure, I've had minor successes here and there, but even now, none of the projects I have out there in development are "sold" and they could just as easily fall apart. And if they do, will I quit? Well, fucking hell, no. It'll piss me off, sure. But I'll try again. And again.

So you wrote a script that didn't sell. Write another one. That one not sell either? Then write another one. Or re-write the 1st one. Or go make it your damn self.

You will be disappointed. You will be pissed. You will be in tears. Frustrated. Blocked. Did I mention disappointed? And all the while you better be blogging about it, cause we all go through it, and it sucks, but we move on, we get over it, and we fucking write. Cause we love it.

But quitting? Not. An. Option.

My Way-Too Early Predictions....

Back in March I decided to predict the Oscars of 2006. Here were my choices for Best Picture.......

Flags Of Our Fathers
Dreamgirls
Running With Scissors
Marie Antoinette
The Good Shepard

I wasn't nuts for thinking of those at the time (without seeing them, reading them, etc). Flags might still make it, and Dreamgirls seems like a shoo-in. Running with Scissors? Won't make it, but might get Annette Bening a Best Actree Nom (it seems all will lose to Helen Mirren anyway). Marie won't make it in for anything at this point. And we'll see how the Good Shepard plays out. My prediction that Eddie Murphy will get a nomination for supporting will likely come true.

My other pics that might get a best pic nomination if the ones listed above didn't all make it were The Departed (now of course, it's a no-brainer), All The King's Men (Ha!), The Fountain (too "out there" to get a nom), The Prestige (maybe a screenplay nomination), Zodiac (moved to 2007), Breaking & Entering (not sure about this one yet), and Stranger Than Fiction (doubtful).

Hey, it was March, and I was bored! What do you guys think?

Back from Vaca

Well, I'm back. We hit Florida for a week, did the Disney thing (again, we went for Easter) and hit a few other things. We basically covered what we missed last time in Disney - it's still the same, plastic perfection. I still think they need to update the Magic Kingdom. Their Carousel Of "Progress" is a joke, and the marionette-type of puppets just don't cut it.

We also hit Medieval times (very cool) and Wonderworks (magicians, comedy, etc - neat place). Gatorland was in flames when we arrived so that was out, so we went to Silver Springs. An okay place but it's basically run by Grandparents - Nice joint with some good views of gators & shit, but it needed some life! You could hear a pin drop. Our "captain" who rode us around in their famous glass-bottom boats said he'd worked their for 100 years - I believed him.

We also stayed at the Nick Hotel for a night - 100x better than a Disney hotel stay. When I walked into our suite and saw the very large flat-screen TV on the living room wall, they had me.

Finally, South Of The Border. Bomb it. Just get rid of the thing. I used to think its retro-look made it a cool place. Now I realize it's just a dirty, filthy abomination run by Guttertrash. Couldn't even attept to eat at any of their restaurants, they all stunk of piss and cancer.

Anyway, the family had a good time. I think my wife only threatened to kill me 3-4 times (I likely deserved it) and I believe I only threatened my oldest son with leaving him by the side of the road twice. Good times!

Now, back to work.

Savage!

What ever happened to Savage Steve Holland, director of the classic 80s John Cusack epics One Crazy Summer & Better Off Dead? Well, look no further than Nickolodeon. I got a chuckle when we were watching (with the kids, silly) Ned's Declassified (it's actually a smart, funny show) and his name pop up as director. Savage Steve rocks!

How Silly Can you Get?

What movie features the above-mentioned song? Winner gets a cookie.

Nothing new on the writing front. Cricket Hill (TV Show Pilot) is still out to the director's agents, awaiting word on our next step. These things take time, lots of it.

Food Fight (Feature) has seen the rounds, and is still seeing more rounds. No one has bit yet. C'mon, people, bite!

With all my new writing ideas that I wanted to start work on, I froze up and couldn't really focus on any of them. so I switched gears and went back to re-write a 7 year old script (one of my better ones from that era), gave it a new title and voila! I love it all over again. I'll send it out to the manager this weekend and see what he thinks.

Ain't seen crap at the movies, but I'd like to see The Departed, The Prestige and The Borat. But Borat's release was slimmed down (I heard it'll go out on 800 screens). With the buzz this was getting, I thought a wider release would have been smarter. Then again, I'm still a home inspector so what do I know. Deja Vu doesn't look like anything special, I'll wait for HBO.

Saw American Dreamz. It stank. Slow and NOT very edgy. Had a moment or two, and the performances were good, but the script stunk like a beer shit. Deja Vu doesn't look like anything special, I'll wait for HBO.

Weeds - Now that was a finale. Balls to the wall fun, tension, and great drama. A highlight was when the youngest son, while giving his speech as he's graduating INTO Junior High, lashes out at the clueless parents/teachers, etc and exclaims "There are motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane." Brilliant. Can't wait 'til next season.